On its calendar, in red ink, the XV of Italy had noted two major meetings in Lyon, the French capital of gastronomy. New Zealand, Friday September 29, before France, October 6: two matches, two opportunities in the event of victory to qualify for a World Cup quarter-final, two chances to write an XXL format page in the history books of their sport.
No doubt inspired by the city of Paul Bocuse and after two successful first matches, the transalpine captain, Michele Lamaro, saw in these two meetings “a dessert at the end of the meal” and the opportunity to “put the icing on the cake”. Unfortunately for the Italians, the clash against New Zealand turned into food poisoning. Defeated 96 to 17, outplayed everywhere and dangerous nowhere, the Italians saw their hopes of victory dashed by a ruthless New Zealand team.
If there was a manual listing the thousand and one ways to put an opponent to death, the New Zealanders opened it to the first page, turned the pages one by one with the application of model students and closed the book. 80’s worke minute after having scrupulously followed all the instructions. On the counter-attack, from their 22 meters, after a foot pass, following a scrum, a throw-in or a carried ball, the men in black tried everything and succeeded.
It only took them twenty-two minutes to pocket the offensive bonus, scored after four tries scored. The rest was positive and at the hour mark, after his men’s tenth try, we even saw the face of Ian Foster, the New Zealand coach, smiling from ear to ear, However, he is not very keen on laughter.
Italians overwhelmed
It is sometimes said that high scores do not do justice to the resistance put up by the losers and that they hide the brilliance of the vanquished. This is not the case here: the resistance of the Italians was annihilated by the mastery of the triple world champions and we can count the transalpine flashes on the fingers of one hand.
Too often penalized (14 times), dilettante in defense (one tackle in three missed), martyred in closed scrums, thwarted in groupings, dominated in impacts, the eleventh nation in the world has not done honor to its rank. There were these first two minutes of play where she managed to unbalance the New Zealand defense, but a stray ball, a dominated scrum and a precise foot pass from New Zealander Jordie Barrett allowed her sidekick Will Jordan, after a balancing act, to score the first of 14 New Zealand tries of the evening in the corner.
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